CVS settles with Md. attorney general over expired items

CVS Caremark has agreed to pay $250,000 as part of a settlement resolving allegations that its pharmacy stores left products on shelves after they passed their sell-by dates and tossed customer records into open dumpsters, the Maryland attorney general's office said Wednesday.

The office's Consumer Protection Division alleged that CVS did not have sufficient procedures to safeguard consumers' personal information when disposed and to avoid selling expired products — including baby formula, dairy products and over-the-counter drugs.

CVS said in a statement that it settled to resolve allegations from 2008 but has not admitted wrongdoing. The company said it has a "clear product removal policy" and procedures for waste disposal, and added that it isn't aware "of any consumer harm arising out of, or related to, the alleged incidents."

The attorney general's office said CVS agreed as part of the settlement to put procedures in place, train employees and, for at least three years, have its registers prompt cashiers to check that certain products, such as baby food, are not past their sell-by dates. For at least two years, CVS also must give a $2 discount to anyone who finds an expired product on the shelves, the agency said.